Shalom to you all...
Thank you for your continuing support of
KosherTorah...
Please remember, KosherTorah is here for
you... and I need you to be here for
KosherTorah. Your support, however
great or
small, however often or seldom is needed and
appreciated. If you enjoy this lesson, then
please express your support by making a small
online donation... Thanks.
Now that Elul is upon us, it is again time
for me to begin my annual fund raising
drive... I am not very good in soliciting
funds... maybe this is why KosherTorah has
remained small all these years... but no
matter... I trust that HaShem will speak to
each of you individually in your hearts and
that you will each support KosherTorah as
Heaven knows we need. In future emails this
month, I will be outlining for you my many
publishing project I hope to get off the
ground this coming year.... Thank you all in
advance for your continuing interest and
support of KosherTorah.
BTW, you can also help KosherTorah by
introducing us to your friends and
associates. We would love to have more email
subscribers. Please share KosherTorah and
ask your friends to freely subscribe.
Thanks again!
-----------------------------------------
New Online Free Class Starting on Sunday
RaMBaM's Hilkhot Yesodei Torah
Sunday evenings 9 p.m. PDT (midnight in NY, 7
a.m. in Israel) on virtualyeshiva.com I will
begin a new series of lessons in RaMBaM's
Laws of the Foundations of Torah (Hilkhot
Yesodei Torah).
I will not only be explaining the text but
also the underlying mysticism and philosophy
underlying it. These lessons are very
deep and extremely cool. You will learn
things about Torah you never knew before!
For those who claim that RaMBaM did not know
Kabbalah, I hold like Abulafia and the
Radziner Rebbe who held that he most
certainly did.
I will be using commentaries on the text that
are not very well known, classical material
that correlate Kabbalistic teachings to
RaMBaM's approach.
I'll let each student draw their own
conclusions just what RaMBaM knew and did not
know. In all due respect, his choice of
words is most revealing.
Come join us Sunday night live or you can
purchase the CDs in our online store the day
after the live class.
This class is free and open to the public.
It will especially be good for all beginners,
Jews and Benei Noah alike.
-------------------------------------------------
The River of Life
by HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok. Copyright (C) 2008 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.
Nature does not follow a straight line;
neither does the course of human events.
Like the course of a river, human events flow
this way and that way; grow wide and thin and
twist and turn. No one can predict the
course of an unexplored river and no one can
predict the course of our human unknown
future. Yet, one thing is certain, things
will never flow straight, there will always
be twists and curves along the way.
Great events that shift the course of history
happen in a moment; they usually go by
unnoticed and unrecognized. We go sleep at
night in one world and wake up the following
morning in an entirely different one. We did
not see the shift; we did not see the change
of course. Yet, life like a river flows
forward and with each passing turn we are
taken into regions unknown.
We have now passed through one such time and
others are coming; some in months and others
in years. Soon, things that we all know so
well will shift and change with a sudden
jerk. In the blink of an eye so much of what
we hold sacred and dear will disappear. This
will not happen immediately, it will happen
slowly and subtly and then suddenly BANG, it
will culminate.
We cannot avoid the change it is inevitable;
it is destiny. Yet, we can prepare for it.
We can start today and be ready to face
tomorrow. Only those properly strapped in
and who wear life vests can safety navigate
the running rapids along the river. Running
the river of life requires of us equal
preparations.
Our individual destinies are decided based
upon so many circumstances and events beyond
both our control and imagination. There is
no way for anyone to take absolute control of
their lives and welfare. Such security does
not exist. This being said, at the same
time, we are not complete slaves to some
nebulous uncontrollable destiny that dangles
us like puppets on a string. Although we
cannot control everything, there certainly is
a great deal that we can place under our own
control.
The struggle to control that which cannot be
controlled takes up a good part of our lives,
energy and attention. We often struggle to
control that which cannot be controlled and
at the same time ignore or disregard that
which we can easily be controlled. There
seems to be no wisdom in this.
The first of things that we can control is
our focus of attention. The second thing we
can control is what we choose. In most cases
we have ultimate power to choose between
options. Not all options may be to our
liking, but we can still choose between them.
When we think clearly with proper focus, we
can make the right choice for the
circumstances presently before us. In this
way, we flow along the course of the river of
life, taking each turn as it comes and
navigating it as is best for the greatest
desired outcome.
Life is our learning experience. If you go
through the day and have not learned anything
then that is a day wasted. Mind you, some
lessons are subtle and not immediately
noticed; yet, they are still learned, whether
or not we are aware of having learned them.
It requires the focus of our attention to
seek out what lesson each day has for us to
learn.
Prior to sleep each night, we should lie in
bed and review the day. We should look at
the circumstances of the day, how we reacted
to them; what did we create and how did we
respond and interact with that which was not
our creation but came from another source.
We should review and recognize that which we
did that was right and that which we did
which was wrong. We should feel these
things, not just think about them. This is
not an academic exercise for the mind; it is
a getting in touch with one's true feelings.
Upon our beds we should feel shame over our
failures. Yet, rather than wallow in pity,
we should feel the passion of a roaring lion.
We should declare in our hearts; "although I
have failed once, I will not dishonor myself,
will not fail again." We go to sleep with
the resolve to wake up the next day and be
better than we were the day before. In this
way, we learn and in this way we grow. This
is how we navigate the ever changing course
of the river of life.
Awakening is the key. We must awaken our
slumbering hearts. We must become aware of
our own inner selves and our own personal
destines. We each navigate our own personal
rivers. No two people are alike, no two
destines are exactly the same. Each of us is
an individual. Although we have many
partners and supporters throughout many
portions of our journey, nonetheless, when
all is said and done, the journey is ours
alone and that makes our individual paths unique.
We cannot turn to another to ask for
directions along our personal river. Their
directions might work well on their river,
but not necessarily on ours. Granted, good
advice and wisdom may enable one to help
another; yet that advice and wisdom are only
general principles and guidelines; they are
not directives and orders to follow. The
only way to follow the river is to go with
its course; to move along with it and not
against it. Each river has its own current
and its own course. One cannot flow at the
pace of another, nor can one follow a course
that is not one's own.
Great passages come before us, and seldom do
we recognize their significance at the
moment. Only as we look back can we see the
true size and significance of that which was;
but by then it is already too late to choose
another course or exert any influence. If we
could only recognize the moment for what it
is; how this would help us in making the
choice of what proper course to follow. Yet,
who amongst us has such insight? Who can
rise above and see the tomorrow's outcome of
today's decisions? The one who contemplates
this course is called wise. Blessed are the
wise for they shall see today what comes
tomorrow and thus have the opportunity to
better shape the future.
Pause before you sleep at night. Open your
heart to wisdom. See with the eyes of the
spirit. Learn the lesson of the soul. This
is Torah. This is Teshuva. This is flowing
with the course of your river of life.
Personal Note...
Here at KosherTorah, I have devoted my
entire career and essentially my life to get
this very message across. The original
Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed for one
single reason; this being because we failed
to listen to the Prophets who warned us in
G-d's Name what to do and not to do.
Here we are centuries later and I wonder
how much has really changed. We as
individuals have such great potentials within
us, if only we live up to being what it means
to be truly human. G-d never commanded us to
be angels. He only commanded us to be human.
Torah was not given to angels; it was given
to us human beings.
We will never impress Heaven by trying to
act like angels. We will however impress
Heaven when we act like fully intelligent,
compassionate and caring human beings. This
is what Torah is all about. Try reading
through the words of the Biblical Prophets
and you'll see this message for yourselves.
The time of change is upon us. We have to
revert to the innocent and sincerity of the
desirous and passionate Virgin. This is the
time. Will you make the place?
Please remember KosherTorah in your
prayers and with your financial support. We
have a lot of work to do, I pray, together!
---------------------------------------------------
Shalom, Ariel Bar Tzadok